Mobile, remotely controlled robots are becoming increasingly popular for use by the military, SWAT units, and police and fire departments. The applicants' TALON® robot, for example, includes an arm with an end effecter, several cameras, several antennas, and a deployable mast. Frequently the end effector is a gripper, e.g. a pair of jaws that can be opened and closed on command to grasp objects such as debris, hazardous material, unexploded ordinance and the like. The larger robots even have the capability to grip an injured, downed, person by some personal paraphernalia such as a shirt collar and drag them out of harm's way to safety. End effector grippers generally are designed to grasp objects within a defined size range. To grip objects larger or smaller than that size range, the present grippers must be removed and replaced with a gripper that has the desired size range capability. This requires an interruption in the availability of the mobile robot and can be dangerous and even life threatening in the circumstances in which these robots are frequently used. Another problem often encountered is the difficulty in using the grippers to reach into confined spaces and or grip very small objects such as, for example, a single wire in a bundle or inside a housing. Often this requires tipping the end of the gripper downwardly, often involving the arm, about the pitch axis of the jaws to gain access to the confined space and/or grip a wire.